imperialism
Raoul Hedebouw: “We are seeing a war between the imperialist bloc and independent countries that can unfortunately lead to a global conflict.”
Raoul Hedebouw. DR.
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: In the book you co-wrote with Peter Mertens « Priorité de gauche, pistes rouges pour sortie de crise” (Left-wing priority. Red slopes for crisis resolution), you talk about the neoliberal drift and you propose an alternative. Do you think that the systemic crisis of capitalism offers prospects for the constitution of a real fighting left that frames the workers’ struggle?
Raoul Hedebouw: Yes, it seems clear to me. We would do well to analyze the sequence in which we find ourselves, that is to say at the beginning of the 1990s with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the socialist countries, the neoliberals created a sequence that was the one where there was no alternative, the famous TINA (note: There is no alternative), and we must note that the 2008 banking crisis has reopened many prospects for discussion. And since 2008 and the banking crisis, there are many more prospects for debates and openings to go beyond capitalism. And we clearly see that there is a dynamic at the youth level, at the union level, where there is much more energy to debate this subject. It’s not by chance that Marx’s book « The Capital » has become a bestseller in the United States, Japan and France. Lire la suite »
Dr. María Páez Víctor: “The USA has opposed, destabilized, overthrown or assassinated every progressive reformer that has appeared on the political scene in the region for more than a century”
Dr. Maria Paez Victor. DR.
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: Can you tell us what the current situation is in Venezuela?
Dr. María Páez Víctor: There are 6 key issues to understanding the situation in Venezuela.
1) Petroleum: The first thing to understand is that it is all about the oil. Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world in a highly strategic geographical location. It takes 43 days for an oil tanker to travel from the Middle East to the Texas refineries, while it only takes 4 days for one to go from Venezuela there. The oil companies, and governments they support, covet Venezuelan oil. If the country only produced mangos no one would care what happened there. Lire la suite »
Reese Erlich: “Trump will likely escalate various wars”
Reese Erlich. DR.
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: What is your analysis of the American withdrawal of the Iranian nuclear agreement?
Reese Erlich: The US has been violating the agreement for some time by pressuring other countries not to do business with Iran. It started under Obama and intensified under Trump. Trump’s decision to reimpose harsh sanctions sends a message around the world that you can’t trust the US, in case you had any trust previously. It is also a step towards military confrontation with Iran as seen by recent Israeli actions. I think the decision will ultimately isolate the US in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. It will make a Korean accord even more difficult. Lire la suite »
Dr. Roy Casagranda: “ISIL is a reflection of the US”
Dr. Roy Casagranda. DR.
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: What is your opinion about the first year of the Trump Presidency?
Dr. Roy Casagranda: OMG! Train wreck! I can’t stop staring! The US has never had a more volatile leader, as incompetent, with so little legislation, with such high turnover, as blatantly corrupt, as overwhelming ignorant of the Constitution, state operations, world affairs, and economics. The effect has been a polarization of the electorate, like we have not seen since the 1850s! It is the best thing to happen to the US since the 1960s. Lire la suite »
Prof. Richard Falk: “Israel continuously defies international law”
Prof. Richard Falk. DR.
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: You wrote the book « Achieving Human Rights« . Don’t you think that the many interventions of American imperialism, under the pretext of spreading human rights and democracy, have emptied the concept of human rights from its substance?
Prof. Richard Falk: I would place the stress on the discrediting effects of the disastrous American imperial intervention, and subsequent occupation, of Iraq starting in 2003. Especially when the allegation of hiding stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction proved false, the United States justified the intervention as a textbook liberation of the Iraqi people, an exercise in what was called ‘democracy promotion.’ Even earlier, the U.S. Government attempted to justify its regime-changing intervention in Afghanistan as beneficial for women, as an undertaking that was described under such headings as ‘women empowerment.’ As with Iraq, the intervention in Afghanistan has brought massive suffering to the people of the country, and discredited all claims that human rights and democracy could be achieved by military intervention. Lire la suite »
Dr. Garry Potter: « Revolution is our only hope of salvation »
Dr. Garry Potter. DR.
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: You wrote « After Postmodernism: An introduction to Critical Realism », and « The Bet, the: Truth in Science, Literature and Everyday Knowledges ». These two books lead to your concept of critical realism. Can you explain this concept to our readers?
Dr. Garry Potter: Critical realism emerged through the work of Roy Bhaskar around about the time of the emergence of postmodernism. Postmodernism, perhaps more than any other theoretical framework, encapsulated some of the incoherence of one of the long-standing poles of thought concerning social science: social constructivism. The other pole was/is, of course, positivism. Lire la suite »
Vincent Emanuele: « Uncle Sam has been ramping-up operations in Africa for some time »
Vincent Emanuele. DR.
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: You are a veteran of the war in Iraq and you testified to Congress. What can you tell us about this?
Vincent Emanuele: My experiences during the war in Iraq were the catalyst for my personal transformation which eventually led to my testifying to U.S. Congress. What can I say about the war? It was horrific. War, as the old saying goes, is Hell. But it’s primarily Hell for those who are being occupied. In this case, the people of Iraq. Lire la suite »
